The Weekly Pull List – August 10th, 2016

Comics come but once a week, but they last… well, a few years at least, right? Unless they’re digital, then they (should?) last a lifetime… hm…

What’s on YOUR Pull List?

Mike Rapin

Mike Rapin

All Star Batman #1

All-New X-Men #12

Flash #4

Ringside #6

A very welcomed small week for me.

Trying All-Star Batman because it’s Scott Snyder. I want to see what kind of crazy stuff this book is going to try, at least for an issue. After that… maybe switch to trades. We’ll see.

Flash continues to be the cool, interesting book it started as. The cliffhanger on #3 was enough for me to yell, “Cooooool!” after reading it. So, I’m definitely looking forward to this book.

Ringside is back this week after some time off–as expected from most Image books who round off an arc. I’m really hoping to see more wrestling in this arc, but who knows. The story so far has been good regardless, I just wanna see more cool wrestling-business-stuff!

Nick White

Nick White

All Star Batman #1

Archer and Armstrong #6

Birthright #18

Ninjak #18

Prometheus: Life and Death #3

This week we’ve got a wide variety of titles on the list, with DC, Valiant, Image, and Dark Horse all contributing.

Just how long have we had to go without a Batman story written by Scott Snyder? That’s not a knock against Tom King, let’s be 100% clear. It’s just that…uhh…in the words of the Internet…”why not both?” Look, in the immortal words of Queen, “I want it all…and I want it now,” and I couldn’t agree more. Oh, and not to whip out that “well, actually…” on my esteemed colleague Mr. Jaissle, but I did read in an interview that All Star Batmanwill actually build (not in extensive or meticulous ways, mind you) on existing canon.

For starters, the debut issue coming out this week will deal with Two-Face (as the focal point of the book is equal parts rotating villains and rotating artists) with John Romita Jr drawing the issue. HOWEVER, those of us that are “in the know” recall that Two-Face is actually supposed to be dead, following the events of Batman and Robin #28. As Snyder recently explained on Twitter, we’re gonna be getting an explanation, and there will more than likely be coin flipping involved.

After last month’s one-shot date issue, Archer and Armstrong (AnA) kicks off its second arc, “Clowntown,” with a visit to the circus. For a book skirting the edge, heading off to a place littered with wild animals and clowns is not what I’d describe as “playing to the audience.” Yet, with Mike Norton (Battlepug, Revival) sticking around on pencils the book has a few more issues to show me what its got.

Birthright’s recent shtick has been that “GUESS WHAT EVERYBODY FROM OUR WORLD ACTUALLY HAS ROOTS IN THE FANTASY REALM.” It’s getting a little long in the tooth.

After the shattering revelations in last month’s issue of Ninjak, the book leaps forward in time to cover events briefly discussed in last summer’s “Book of Death.” Specifically, that Colin King and Gilad Anni-Padda (Eternal Warrior) would become the world’s defenders in the chaos that would inevitably appear. I wasn’t the biggest fan of this upcoming arc’s artist, Khari Evans, but his work on the final arc of Imperium has allayed those fears.

Finally, who else is turbo psyched that the characters and events from Aliens: Fire and Stone found their way into Prometheus: Life and Death? Crazy crazy crazy. Even I thought it was a little too “big picture” thinking for a series that is usually anthology-based.

Paul Jaissle

Paul Jaissle

All-Star Batman #1

Black Panther #5

Detective Comics #938

New Super-Man #2

Ringside #6

Wonder Woman #4

Probably no surprise that I am eagerly anticipating All-Star Batman, the new, continuity-free Batman book written by Scott Snyder. If Snyder returning to Gotham isn’t enough to incite you, certainly art by Declan Shalvey and the legendary John Romita, Jr. should convince you to give this book a try.

Initially, I was a little off put by Black Panther since it was so heavily rooted in the current Marvel continuity and not a “new reader friendly” status quo. Of course, Ta-Nehisi Coates is a skilled journalist and distills information to the reader in a clear, concise way. That really helps me, as someone new to the character, understand T’Challa and Wakandan politics. The first arc wraps up in this issue, and I am fully on board for the rest of Coates’ run.

Ringside, the wrestling-themed revenge story by Joe Keatinge and Nick Barber, returns this week. As much as I like Keatinge as a writer, as a wrestling fan I really wish there was more “behind the scenes” wrestling stuff in this book. It’s a good read, it seems to be missing an element that would elevate it above a predictable revenge tale.